France detains hundreds in Champions League rioters

Paris: French police detained 780 people involved in violent clashes in Paris and other French cities that erupted Saturday night after Paris Saint-Germain won the Champions League title.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said 57 officers were wounded, with most suffering minor injuries, as football fans set off fires and vandalised shops. One small group even tried to storm a Paris police station.

Nunez said at a news conference Sunday that “the situation has been largely brought under control”.

“Most of the celebrations took place peacefully” across the French capital, he said, noting most incidents happened in the Champs Elysees neighbourhood and close to the Parc des Princes stadium in western Paris where fans had gathered to watch the match.

Police also intervened five times overnight to prevent people from blocking traffic on the main ring road around Paris, he said.

Nunez said incidents took place in about 15 cities in France, describing “one to two” shops vandalised in each other than Paris. He said 780 people were detained in all, with 480 of them in the Paris area alone.

The Paris prosecutors’ office said 277 people have been formally placed in police custody, including 82 minors, for alleged offences. Most were for assault of police officers while other allegations include theft, vandalism and disturbing the public order.

One serious accident involved a driver losing control of a car that rammed into a restaurant’s terrace, leaving two people wounded including one seriously, Nunez said.

But Nunez said that planned celebrations for the team’s win on Sunday afternoon at the Champ de Mars, near the Eiffel Tower, would go ahead as scheduled. He warned that police would respond with “firmness and determination” to any potential violence.

The PSG team will then be hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee presidential palace.

Fans began celebrating in Paris after the final whistle Saturday evening in Budapest, Hungary, where Paris Saint-Germain won by beating Arsenal on penalties in a dramatic final.

Fans marched along the avenues near Paris’ Arc de Triomphe monument, with some setting off flares and blaring car horns. Around 20,000 people gathered on the Champs-Elysees, where police worked to contain the crowd.

The Paris police prefecture said smaller groups caused disturbances in various locations, with some vandalising shops and setting fires to garbage and self-service bicycles in the streets. Cars were also set ablaze.

Those who attempted to storm a police station in the posh 8th Arrondissement neighbourhood were dispersed, police said.

In May last year following PSG’s first title, 201 people were injured in the French capital and police made more than 500 arrests across France.